Browsing the class hierarchy

PowerBuilder provides a Browser that can show the hierarchy of the built-in PowerBuilder system objects and the hierarchy of ancestor and descendant windows, menus, and user objects you create. In object-oriented terms, these are called class hierarchies: each PowerBuilder object defines a class.

Regenerating objects

The Browser also provides a convenient way to regenerate objects and their descendants. For more information, see Regenerating library entries.

To browse the class hierarchy of PowerBuilder system objects:

  1. Click the Browser button in the PowerBar.

  2. Choose the System tab to show the built-in PowerBuilder objects.

  3. In the left pane, scroll down the object list and select the powerobject.

  4. Display the pop-up menu for the powerobject and choose Show Hierarchy.

  5. Select Expand All from the pop-up menu and scroll to the top.

    The hierarchy for the built-in PowerBuilder objects displays.


Getting context-sensitive Help in the Browser

To get context-sensitive Help for an object, control, or function, select Help from its pop-up menu.

To display the class hierarchy for other object types:

  1. Choose the Menu, Window, or User Object tab.

    If you choose any other object type, there is no inheritance for the object type, so you cannot display a class hierarchy.

  2. In the left pane, select an object and choose Show Hierarchy from its pop-up menu.

  3. Select an object and choose Expand All from its pop-up menu.

    PowerBuilder shows the selected object in the current application. Descendant objects are shown indented under their ancestors.

    For example, if your application uses the PBDOM PowerBuilder extension object, the pbdom_object displays on the User Object page. You can select Show Hierarchy and Expand All from its pop-up menu to display its descendant objects.